Parshat Bamidbar - 5780 "Free For All"

Parshat Bamidbar – 5780

Free For All 

Rabbi Shaanan Gelman and Rabbi Ariel Rackovsky

 

Wow. 12 days ago, I began a silent meditation in the desert.

We were totally isolated. No phone, no communication etc. We had no idea what was happening outside the facility.

Walked out yesterday into a very different world. One that’s been changed forever. Mind blowing- to say the least.

These words were tweeted by Jared Leto on March 17, 2020. The actor  needed to get away, to recharge, no doubt from his incredibly stressful life.  So on March 5, he socially isolated himself from his friends and loved ones and retreated to the desert. During his seclusion, the world he had desperately tried to flee  had completely changed, and was now the world he longed for. Retreats like this are a sign of privilege, the kind of of luxury and detoxification afforded to the rich and famous.  To us average folk, a desert may seem like a poor choice of locale to seek inspiration and to recharge. But the Hollywood elite may be onto something - after all, the Bnei Yisrael were exiled in the desert for 40 years - and it was there specifically, that God decided to gift us with His Torah.  The desert is thus a source of spiritual nourishment and realignment with our values. In fact, this is even enshrined in Jewish law.  Based on a passage in tractate Megillah, the Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chaim 428:4) rules that with very few exceptions, Bemidbar should always be read on the Shabbat before Shavuot.  What is it about the desert that connects it with the Torah, and with the holiday that celebrates it? Consider the following fascinating passage from the Talmud (Nedarim 55a), commenting on a sequence of locations mentioned later in Parshat Chukkat.

תלמוד בבלי מסכת נדרים דף נה עמוד א

וממדבר מתנה וממתנה נחליאל ומנחליאל במות- א"ל: כיון שעושה אדם את עצמו כמדבר שהוא מופקר לכל - תורה ניתנה לו במתנה, שנאמר: וממדבר מתנה, וכיון שניתנה לו במתנה נחלו אל

Rav Yosef said to Rava: Do not sit on your feet until you tell me the explanation of this matter: What is the meaning of that which is written: “And from the wilderness Mattana and from Mattana Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel Bamot” (Numbers 21:18–19)?

א"ל כיון שעושה אדם את עצמו כמדבר שהוא מופקר לכל תורה ניתנה לו במתנה שנאמר וממדבר מתנה

Rava said to him that it means: Once a person renders himself like a wilderness, deserted before all, the Torah is given to him as a gift [mattana], as it is stated: “And from the wilderness Mattana.”

The Torah was given in the desert to teach us a powerful lesson- that it does not belong to anyone. It is no one’s explicit domain and cannot be harnessed as a tool to further any ideology, identity, religious viewpoint and political position. It can only be acquired by those who approach it with humility, intellectual honesty and a genuine thirst to learn its contents. This may be why so many great leaders of the Jewish people spent time in the desert, particularly as shepherds, before ascending to  leadership. Yosef and his brothers, Moshe, David and Amos all went to the finishing school for leadership that was the desert; a life in the quiet of the desert forces one to look inward and to develop a unique identity, unencumbered by peer pressure, public opinion and politics which tend to cloud one’s thinking.

The message of the ownerless desert as the site of the Torah’s revelation is that the Torah expects us to make ourselves ownerless as well. If Torah is to be part of our lives, it must never become dependent upon the approval of others. While the social component of Judaism has its positives, we find ourselves now in the desert; we have been robbed of many of the communal aspects of religious lives. Indeed, for many, from the sole expression of their Jewish lives is the one that exists in the communal, experiential sphere, rather than that of personal prayer and Torah study. It therefore behooves us to recognize that the Torah was given in the desert as a matanah, as a gift. It is in private that the Torah cannot be twisted and bent, conforming to a particular agenda. Immune from popular trends and separated from the social groups that pressure us in any particular direction, our challenge is to engage with the Torah even when no one else sways us to do so.

To be mufkar means to become philosophically unencumbered.  I don't have to ascribe to one type of Torah. Rather, I am permitted and even encouraged to broaden my intellectual horizons. Often, we view Torah from someone who is not in “my camp” as off limits, and the Torah of someone who is in my camp as automatically prized. I’ve often received compliments for quoting the Torah of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, of blessed memory, not because the Torah was remarkable but because the complimenter has positive associations with the Rebbe, Chabad or Chassidus. In fact, the Torah of the Rebbe merits study not just because of who he was, but because his Torah is remarkable in its depth, erudition, sophistication and psychological insight. Many in our camp feel the duty to quote or read  Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks not because of the profundity or breadth of his writing, but because it broadcasts our hashkafah and, perhaps, an aura of intellectualism as he quotes many non-Jewish philosophers. That’s not why we should be quoting Rabbi Sacks. Instead, we should be quoting him because it is  interesting and relevant.  Conversely, many of us would be afraid to cite the Torah thoughts of Rav Yoel Teitelbaum, the Satmar Rav z”l, lest someone suspect that we harbor anti-Zionist views.  This too would be inappropriate and disingenuous.

Let us purify our Torah for Torah’s sake - embrace the desert for all it offers us, and do not allow anyone to own the intellectual property of Hakadosh Baruch Hu.

But being ownerless does not just refer to our approach to the study of Torah. It should also influence our middos, our character and personal conduct. Why is it that we behave in a certain manner, befriend certain people, hold certain political positions or dress and speak in a particular way?  How many of those decisions follow the myriad of voices and influences from around us? On the other hand, there are some personalities who only thrive by living in a counter-cultural way, in opposition to the zeitgeist or ethos of their social constructs. They view themselves as independent, intellectually honest thinkers. What happens though, when the voices around us are only on computer screens, and not in our actual lives? Who are we when we are in the desert?

 

Much has been said about the business meeting in which participants block their cameras or wear only the top portion of their outfits - hoping not to be called out on it.  How is our image altered when we venture into the desert, where no one can dictate social norms and expectations? These days, it is tempting to wear pajamas or activewear on a lazy Shabbos morning or afternoon- after all, no one will see us and no one will care if they do. But we dress for Shabbos, not for shul-and not for our friends. We are living in a time of unprecedented financial difficulty, and everyone is feeling it in some form. How charitable are we, within our means, if we don’t know how much everyone else is giving? If possible, we ought to carve out a half hour or so for Talmud Torah - even though our friends are not dragging us to the shiur.  Let us use this time away in the midbar to reinforce the sort of people and Jews we ought to be, not because of nor in spite of anyone else, but למען שמו- for the sake of His name.